Before You Came
by Lin Shadow
Summary: "The great Cheshire said thank you, am I hallucinating?" Glaring, I elbowed him as unpleasant memory resurfaced in my mind."It's hard to be an only assassin parent, you try it for months!" I said harshly. ArrowCat Roy/Jade : Enjoy


I am half asleep, reaching out to pull Lian's small fragile body toward me I notice it is not there, I can't find her.

Instantly I wake up startled that Lian, my daughter, is not huddled nearby or tucked underneath the blankets to hide her from wandering eyes.

But I relax seeing the infant in a crib, a few feet away, snoozing peacefully.

Instead I am cuddled up to my husband, also known as Red Arrow, former Speedy, Roy Harper.

I shifted turning more to the crib, reminding myself how much danger she in each second.

The movement pulled Red out of his sleep as he mutters to me, "Go back to sleep it's too early,"

His warm breathe is relaxing and I desperately want to go back to sleep.

But I know I can't, there is too much at risk.

"I have to keep an eye on her," I said firmly, ignoring my heavy eyes.

"Then go back to sleep, I'll watch her." He said fully awake now as his arms encaged me and his eyes fully on Lian.

"Thanks Arrow,"

He then gasped in mock surprise theatrically.

"The great Cheshire said thank you, am I hallucinating?"

Glaring, I elbowed him as unpleasant memory resurfaced in my mind.

"It's hard to be an only assassin parent, you try it for months!" I said harshly with a hint of a growl.

"Ow, Chesh, you never told me about your adventures with Lian alone." Rubbing the part of his stomach I elbowed.

Man he was out of shape, but no matter I can fix that soon enough.

As I put my hand over the part I hit I snuggled closer into his comfortable arms.

"Well might as well tell you so you can make up for the time that you missed." I said.

_Flash back_

_You'd never expect this from me._

_A successful assassin, daughter of Sportsmaster another well respected criminal and the retired but remembered Huntress another old criminal._

_But here I am just being shaken from my daze of somewhat rest. I am lying on an old dingy, springy mattress in an abandoned motel. There is a smell of old laundry and the wall paper is peeling showing an ugly color that reminds me of the shade of the walls in my old room back in Gotham and I mentally scold myself._

_No Jade, there's no chance to returning there-at least for a full hour._

_"Oh Lian what is it?"_

_I get up wincing at the loud cracking produced by my back, mixed in with the loud wailing of Lian._

_Sighing tiredly I prop Lian up and start rocking her back and forth sleepily and keeping an ear out for anything abnormal._

_When that doesn't work I grope underneath the bed and yank Lian's pack up to the bed and dug around until I found a binky and gently push it into Lian screaming mouth._

_For a minute or two there's the sound of Lian sucking on the binky until she spits it out and it hits me on the nose-wet and gross._

_With a grimace I picked it up from where it had landed on Lian's blanket and carefully wipe of the saliva with the back of my clawed gloved hand._

_I haven't slept in real pajamas for months. Instead I slept in my uniform-a short green kimono with clawed gloves and a tight turtle neck leotard underneath._

_Lian was giggling and I scowled fondly down at her-don't ask me how someone can scowl fondly it works out somehow._

_"You have your father's aim and cheek, little Tree Flower," I muttered and put the binky back in and this time she didn't protest._

_If I had a nickel for every time that had happened I'd be richer than Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen-put together._

_To put it simple, this happened every night._

_End Flash back_

"That time only stands out so much because the same day I found you," I said looking up to him.

He was silent the entire time- taking in the details and playing with the ends of my hair, still keeping a watchful eye on Lian.

"Wow, I can't believe you held out so long,"

I shrug and reply.

"She our daughter, what do you think I'd do? Kill her whenever she woke me up? She'd be dead and we wouldn't be here,"

"I would have thought that before, but not presently," he says thoughtfully still playing with my hair.

I don't mind though.

"You better remember that, you have no idea how it was like before you came," I said burrowing back into his chest and he plants a kiss on the top of my head.

I used to think that I could do everything on my own and that it'd be less a burden for other people.

But now I see how much better things have gotten since Roy started acting like a parent and helping me out.

With this on my mind I finally drift into my first real sleep in months.

* * *

A/N Well this is my first one-shot and I'll probably only continue this if I have a good idea or spare time.

Please Review! Tell me what you think! :)


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